Dehumanization

Dehumanization-defined- simply put is treating a human being as if they were not human. How often does this happen? Some may think that it is a very rare occurrence. This is WRONG, it happens all of the time, in fact it never stops happening.

I will first cover one of the most obvious ways that we dehumanize people-abortion. Simply, a lot of people know that they are killing a baby but they use terms like fetus or say that it is just a clump of cells. Because truth be told if they said that it was a baby then they would be admitting not only to the woman that have the abortions, but to themselves that they are killing a human person. How many people do you know that can live with themselves after knowingly murdering a person? My guess is none. Also if abortion mill workers said that the baby was a baby then how many less abortions would there be? How many fewer abortion mills would there be?

Another way that we dehumanize is when we judge people by what they look like. Everyone does it. We all have a tendency come up with who we think a person is by what they look like before we even know who they are. If we see someone with a fancy car or expensive clothes most of the time we place them in a group of people who think that they are too good for us or are snobby. When in reality they could be very generous people who got there clothes at a thrift store to save money or they are just borrowing a car from someone because they don't have one available to them. We also tend to place people who have messy clothes and messed up hair and dirty skin in a lower class then even ourselves when they could have just finished helping someone fix their yard or paint their house. The thing is that we don't know there story or reasoning for something yet we look at them and push them down, sometimes unknowingly, so that we can build ourselves up. We forget to think of them as humans.

The final way that I am going to mention is teen pregnancies. Think about it, here we are as pro-lifers (disclaimer-not all people do this) and when we see a pregnant teen at the mall or walking down the street we automatically think of them as a bad person for getting pregnant in the first place. But did you ever stop and think to yourself that maybe it wasn't there fault and event if it was then at least they didn't have an abortion. At least they kept the baby and did't kill it. I think that a lot of teens get abortions because they are afraid of what others will think of them for being pregnant. We should show them a little support, they are human and make mistakes just like us.

There are so many ways that we dehumanize people that I am not even going to try to cover them all. Can I make a suggestion? Why don't we all try, when we see a person, to think of them as a person and not judge them for what they look like. It is a very hard thing to do but I personally am working on it because I am pro-life and pro-lifers, who are also human, are supposed to stand up for life from conception to natural death. And that means that we respect and care for all humans whether they are in the right or in the wrong.

The meaning of love

I love like the movie Frozen that Disney made. Olaf is one of my favorite characters. 

He is a cute snowman that Elsa and Anna made when they were little, and he comes to life later on when they are older. His greatest wish is to be in summer and he likes warm hugs, "Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" During the course of the movie he teaches Anna what love really is. He says, "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours." This is such a true statement. In today's society love is portrayed as an emotion and the word is thrown around more often then even the word "like". 

Last summer my friend Kathleen and I did an experiment to see which one of us said "like" unnecessarily, more often. at first it was hard to catch ourselves and the other person but by the second day we did a pretty good job of telling the other person when they said "like". What we found out was that we both said "like" all of the time and when we were thinking about it it was hard for us to come up with a word to replace it or to even stop ourselves from saying "like".  

My point is that between the two of us we miss-used the word "like" like all of the time, and we still sometimes do. The thing is "love" is miss-used EVEN more often. we often say that we "love" a movie or "love" an object. When the truth is that you can ONLY love people! We also miss-use it when we say that we are so "in love" with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Are you really "in love" or do you just really like them? And if you are "in love" then that means that you are willing to do ANYTHING for that person, even die for them. 

*Spoiler*


At the end of the movie when Elsa is about to be killed by Hans, and Anna is running towards Kristoff (half frozen) for an act of true love (that will thaw her and save her life), Anna, hearing her sister crying, turns away from Kristoff and runs to protect her sister from harm, in turn she ends to solid ice. She was willing to risk her life to protect her sister. Because of her act of true love towards her sister Anna's frozen heart is thawed and she returns to normal. 

In the past if Disney has taught us anything at all from their princess movies is that you will "fall in love" and live happily ever after. But I like this Disney Princess movie because it actually tells you the true meaning of love. 

And just in case you missed it, when you love someone you are willing to do anything for them, including die for them.

Birthdays

Your birthday is a day that you look forward to every year. It is a day when friends and family think of you and wish you a happy birthday, there is more or less a feeling of being special and important. Everyone has a birthday it does not seem like a rare thing. You can walk up to a random person and ask them if they have a birthday and I bet that they will look at you like you are crazy and tell you that of course they have a birthday, who doesn't? But I am here to tell you that there are a LOT of people who do NOT have birthdays or whose birthdays are forgotten, and even worse most of them are little kids! The thing that keeps little human beings from having a birthday, even there very first one, is abortion and contraception (and yes, contraception can be an abortifacient).  Some kids, who do have birthdays, have their birthdays forgotten. Some who are in abusive homes are beaten for even having a birthday. Most people look forward to their birthday and the things that they will be able to do. When you turn 13 you become a teenager, 15 (in Texas) you get your drivers permit, 16 (also in Texas) you can legally drive on your own, 18 you are an adult, 21 (in the U.S.A) you can legally drink, and so on. every year there is more freedom and (hopefully) joy because you are older. In a way I for one have taken advantage of my birthday, and I'm sure that many others have as well, How many people go to their mom and tell her thank you on your birthday? You wouldn't have one without her.  For my birthday (this Monday) I will not take advantage of it. I am so glade that I have a birthday and that my mom chose life for me even though I was born after Roe Vs. Wade. So, thank you mom! Thank you for choosing to keep me and not legally (or illegally) aborting me! I am going to ask that everyone, when you are done reading this, to go and thank your mom (and dad) for choosing life for you! Know that you are BLESSED to be here, especially if you were born after 1973. 

Pro-Life Boot Camp

Hello, I recently went to a pro-life boot camp. It lasted 5 days and was amazing! The camp started on a Friday and lasted until Tuesday. On Friday we arrived around 5:30pm for check-in at UD, after moving all of my stuff into my dorm room and meeting my room mates we all headed to the common room for the information on the week and to meet our groups, I was part of the Life-savers group. After organizing ourselves into six different groups we started on a scavenger hunt around the campus, my group finished first and got a prize of tootsie pops :). When all of the groups finished we did praise and worship in the chapel. By the time we ate pizza, as a late night snack, it was 9:00pm. When everyone had eaten their pizza (and popsicles) we lined up (girls on the right, guys on the left) with candles and processed back to the chapel for adoration and confession. Around 11:00pm we went back to the dorms for night prayer and lights out. On Saturday morning we had mass at 7:00am and then breakfast then we watched a movie on the truth to abortion, there were some graphic images but they were necessary for the video and for us to see. After seeing what really goes on in abortion mills like planned parenthood, we went to Southwestern, an abortion mill is Dallas, and prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet in front of the building. On the way back to UD we talked about how it affected us to be praying in front of an abortion mill and knowing what is going on inside. Many of us commented that it felt like we were actually doing something for the families affected by abortion rather than just talking about it. When we got back we had lunch and free time then our groups gathered for skit prep. At 3:30pm our groups gathered together and said the Divine Mercy Chaplet. After the Divine Mercy Chaplet we listened to a talk given by Dave Pomerantz, the founder of Save the Storks. After a dinner break we listened to Alison M.* (Not me) speak. After her talk we watched a movie on the Demographic Winter and then our small groups discussed what we thought. On Sunday morning the girls were awakened (not really most of us were already awake and getting ready) by the sound of the guys singing songs. The only one that I caught the words to was "you don't know your beautiful  by One Direction. After morning prayer in the common room we went to breakfast then we had a 'mom and baby bags' activity. During this activity you could make little diaper babies, sort through the items that all of the campers brought, assemble the baskets to give to the moms, or color crosses (There was a huge wall filled with crosses that needed to be colored, there were 13,744 crosses on the wall, I will explain them in farther detail in the next post). After we finished the activity we went to mass and then to lunch. After lunch we headed quickly back to the dorms to change into comfortable clothes. After we had changed we listened to a talk by Kristan H. from Students for Life America. After dinner and a talk by Rebecca we watched the film Crescendo then had a pro-life game night. We had Free time then night prayer and then the guys we singing along with a few of the girls. On Monday morning my group along with two others went to Fort Worth to pray at an abortion mill and then we went to a pregnancy help center and helped them to sort through some donations to give to the people who came for help. We then went to St. Patrick's Cathedral for noon mass  and then to CiCi's pizza for lunch. After lunch we went to St. Michael's church and the guys pulled weeds on the sand volleyball quart and the girls sorted through maternity clothes. When we got back to UD we had skit practice and then dinner. After dinner one of the chaperons, Hali N. gave a talk then we had a sports tournament (really we just did different sports there was not really a winner or even real teams for some of the games). After night prayer a few of the guys along with some of the girls started singing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy after a few minuets all of the guys, most of the girls and a few of the chaperons we singing, it was AWESOME!! then we sang a few other songs that everyone knew, "Don't stop believing" and "You don't know you beautiful". Tuesday morning we had morning prayer and breakfast then we got on the buses and went to pray at an abortion mill then we went to Calvary hill cemetery (the place where over a thousand aborted babies are buried) and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet, it was a very touching and emotional moment. Upon returning to Ud we had mass and then lunch. Then we listened to a TOBET talk (theology of the body). After Ms. Monica finished talking to us Jacquelyn S. gave us a Pro-Life challenge and then we had dinner with our families. After diner our parents listened to a talk and the campers had final skit prep. after all of the skits we had night prayer and we gathered all of our stuff and checked out to go home. It was a fun and amazing experience and I plan on going again next year!

*names are not used for personal reasons. :)